Services · Flagship · ASTM C1153-compliant
Infrared drone roof inspections: see what your roof is hiding.
A commercial roof can look perfect from the surface and be saturated underneath. Our infrared drone inspections image the entire roof’s thermal signature in a single flight — revealing wet insulation, failing seams, and energy loss that no walk-on visual inspection can find.
Schedule My Free Roof Assessment02 · The physics
How thermal imaging finds wet insulation.
Water holds heat. During the day, the sun loads your roof with thermal energy. After sunset, dry insulation releases that heat quickly — wet insulation releases it slowly. For a window of a few hours on the right evening, wet areas glow warm against the cooling roof field on an infrared camera.
We fly that window. Our drones carry radiometric thermal sensors alongside high-resolution visual cameras, capturing the entire roof in one systematic pass. Every anomaly is georeferenced, so a warm signature on the image corresponds to a precise location on your actual roof.
Our surveys follow ASTM C1153, the industry standard practice for locating wet insulation in roofing systems using infrared imaging — including the verification step most providers skip: suspect areas are confirmed on the roof with moisture meters and core samples before anything makes it into your report as ‘wet.’
Wet areas glow warm against the cooling field
03 · Flights, not samples
Why drones beat walk-on scans.
Complete coverage
A drone images 100% of the field, including areas unsafe or impractical to walk. Handheld scans sample; flights map.
Speed
A typical 100,000 sq ft roof is fully captured in one evening, with zero disruption to your operations.
Safety
No crews walking a dark roof at night. The scan happens from the air.
Documentation
You get a scaled, georeferenced thermal orthomosaic, not a handful of spot images. It becomes the baseline every future scan is compared against.
04 · The deliverable
What you receive.
Every inspection produces a written report your whole team can act on — six sections, every claim backed by imagery.
Section 01Full-field
Thermal orthomosaic
The full roof with anomalies marked and numbered.
Section 02Quantified
Moisture map
Verified wet areas quantified in square feet and as a percentage of total roof area.
Section 03Ground truth
Verification photos
Core sample and moisture meter verification photos.
Section 04Every defect
High-resolution visual imagery
Every defect documented: open seams, ponding, blisters, flashing failures.
Section 05By section
Condition ratings
Section-by-section condition ratings and remaining service life estimates.
Section 06The plan
Prioritized recommendations
With budget ranges — repair, restore, or replace, by section.
One written report · every claim verified · built to be handed to your CFO
05 · Timing
When to scan.
Any roof you've never scanned
Any roof you own or manage and have never scanned. You cannot plan around an unknown.
Before a warranty expires
Find covered problems while the manufacturer still owns them.
Before buying a building
A moisture survey is the cheapest due diligence you'll ever run on a seven-figure asset.
After a major storm
Hail and wind damage often isn't visible from the surface. Documentation from a post-storm scan anchors your insurance claim.
Before a coating project
Restoration systems require a dry substrate. Coating over wet insulation wastes the entire investment.
Annually or biennially
As part of an asset management program, so trends are caught while they're still cheap.
06 · Straight talk
Where infrared works — and where it doesn't.
We'd rather tell you this up front.
Infrared moisture scanning performs best on low-slope roofs with absorbent insulation — the majority of commercial systems (TPO, EPDM, PVC, modified bitumen, BUR over polyiso, wood fiber, or perlite). It has real limitations on ballasted roofs (the rock masks the signal), inverted (IRMA) assemblies, and some closed-cell insulations that don't absorb water.
Weather matters too: we need a dry roof, a clear sky, and enough daytime solar load — which is why scans are scheduled around conditions, not around our convenience. If your roof isn't a good infrared candidate, we'll say so and recommend the right alternative, such as an impedance or capacitance survey.
07 · Questions
Frequently asked questions.
The answers facility teams ask for before their first scan.
How much does an infrared roof inspection cost?
Pricing depends on roof size and complexity, but a drone-based scan typically costs a small fraction of one percent of the replacement value of the roof it's evaluating — and routinely reduces replacement scope by far more than its cost. We quote a fixed price up front after seeing the roof footprint.
How long does it take?
Flight time for most roofs is under two hours, flown in the evening after sunset. Verification and reporting typically deliver within five to ten business days.
Will it disrupt my building or tenants?
No. The scan is flown from the air, usually after business hours. Verification coring is minimal — small samples, immediately patched and sealed.
Does every roof qualify for infrared scanning?
Most low-slope commercial roofs do. Ballasted and inverted assemblies, and some closed-cell insulations, don't image reliably — for those we use impedance scanning or capacitance testing instead. We confirm the right method before quoting.
Is this the same as the free drone photos some roofers offer?
No. Visual drone photos show the surface. A radiometric thermal survey flown to ASTM C1153, verified with core samples, shows what's underneath. One is marketing; the other is measurement.
Get the full picture
Get the full picture — in one flight.
Schedule a free assessment and we'll evaluate whether your roof is a candidate for infrared scanning, walk the field, and show you exactly what a full survey would map.
651-780-7663 · info@lionstarcommercialroofing.com